much as I love my ER5, I’m getting fed up with the lack of poke to her. I’ve a friend who’s very tempted to buy her off me come feburary if she can get the money together.
Assuming I get a full licence (I’m restricted at the mo) I want something 600 sized. nothing nuts, -100bhp is fine.
I ride 60 miles of motorway and 30 miles of London every day as well as long trips sometimes. I’m tempted by a VFR but they seem a bit big?
I’d desperately love a street triple but they don’t seem fit my need for long trips.
What other bikes around that type would you guys suggest? I’m rather a noob when it comes to bike models
i would look into getting a honda vtr 1000 it has around 100bhp cheap to buy (have seen them around £1000-2000) and im sure the insurance wouldnt be much higher than a 600 sport.that way you have a bit of vroom vroom
If you looking for a ~600 with fairing the list is quite extensive. Excluding sports bikes you have:
ER6F
CBF600
Bandit 650
FZ6 Fazor
Versys
F650GS (New one ok it’s an 800 but softly tuned)
Grab yourself a copy of What Bike and have a look through to see what grabs for your fancy. Or go on to Autotrader website and stick in the parameters such as engine size, age, price and see what comes up.
Test road most of those - basically all lovely bikes. When I bought an ER6F the bloke in the shop was very honest - he told me that as a newbie I would be so far from getting the max out of any of them - it didn’t really matter! Agree with him 100% - sit on them - ride them - and go for the one that feels the best fit.
Recently testroad a VFR too, lovely bike. Big jump from a 500 but that’s your call. Was a tad too low for me but if it works for you…
Sounded like you were after a lighter bike and the naked 600s are around the 180-200kg mark aren’t they? Being short you got the Ducati Monster. Kawasaki did a 400 Ninja upto 2002/03 which was nice. I’ve ridden the NC30, that was a lovely bike and not too heavy or big. I’m only 5"5 and could flatfoot and felt very comfortable.
I’ve got a Hornet 600 2008 model and it’s a comfortable ride. It’s non-faired so moving between traffic isn’t an issue. Comfortable seating and the pillion doesn’t have to ride with their knees wrapped around their ears like a CBR600.
Has plenty of wellie, I’ve been happy with her without taking her much over 8000rpm but I’m mainly commuting with it so there isn’t much reason to.
I would say it’s a decent first big bike and it’s non-biased because I would have preferred a CBR600 but I’m more than happy with this model and intend to keep it for another year or more.
